View full sizeSTEVEN NEHL/The OregonianKeiko, star of "Free Willy" drew huge crowds to the Oregon Coast Aquarium, which this weekend offers a program on killer whales, or orcas.

The Oregon Coast Aquarium, site -- as many Oregonians will recall -- of one of history's most intriguing whale stories, resurrects the topic of orca conservation this weekend with "Killer Whale Tales," a program using storytelling and science activities to focus visitors' thinking on conservation of the species.

The aquarium, of course, was home from January 1996 to September 1998 to Keiko, the orca star of the blockbuster Warner Bros. film "Free Willy." Caretakers aiming to rejuvenate the ailing film star built him a large rehab pool at the aquarium in Newport, where visitorship also hit blockbuster status during his stay. Eventually the conservation group that owned Keiko returned him to his native waters near Iceland. He died in 2003 off Norway.

This weekend's program, delivered by Killer Whale Tales, a Seattle nonprofit, will introduce visitors to the southern resident orca population that plies Northwestern waters. They'll learn about killer whale biology, habits and some of the challenges the massive marine mammals face in increasingly polluted oceans.

Presentations are scheduled for 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. No preregistration required, but seating will be first-come, first-served. The program is free with the price of regular admission, which runs $11.95 to $18.95 (free for those 2 and younger). The aquarium is at 2820 S.E. Ferry Slip Road, Newport.

Because song is birds' equivalent of speech, and because they depend on hearing to learn mating skills, males who lose their premium singing abilities fail to attract mates, threatening their reproduction.

That discovery, according to researchers at Duke University Medical School, could have implications for understanding how the human brain and speech changes as people lose their hearing.

About 30 million U.S. residents are deaf or hard of hearing, and as that sense diminishes, says Richard Mooney, professor of neurobiology at Duke, speech often becomes hoarse, garbled and harder to understand.

Bird song walks: Volunteers will guide lots of free 7 a.m. bird song walks across the metro area this month and next, giving anyone intrigued by avian arias chances to learn more about those delivered by resident birds and migrants.

Lamprey population drops in the Columbia River and its tributaries are largely attributed to dam construction, leaving Native tribes, which consider the fish an important ceremonial food, few opportunities to harvest them.

The talk, sponsored by the Oregon Wildlife Heritage Foundation, will be Wednesday in the Billy Frank Jr. Conference Center, Ecotrust Building, 721 N.W. Ninth Ave. A public reception with the presenters begins at 6 p.m.; the talk starts at 6:30 p.m. The event is free.